Some shavings of bark ---

1. So I was sitting in one of my favorite coffee joints, whiling away a sweet summer mornin' of good java and good talk with my buddy Irish Mike (who like me, made the decision not to work himself to death and retired at a respectably young age) when in walked a gentleman, not necessarily a friend of either of us, who broached the subject of bestiality.

Well, now, he didn't say "bestiality," to be perfectly honest about it, he said "buggery." As it turned out, however he was mistaken about the words, because as all you readers must know, there is a world of difference (or at least a moon of difference) between bestiality and buggery. After he made himself clear, it turned out he was talking about a gentleman in S. Carolina who is a repeat offender with a horse.

Here is my bottom line on this story, no pun intended. I decided not to try to correct the man because it occurred to me that sometime during the day as he repeats his mistake, he may be in for a surprise.

2. Some of my friends and I have made a sort of pact, that while we will keep one another informed of our health situations, we will never fall into the habit of many old folks of beating the hell out of the topic. All that does is make everyone including the describer, feel worse. So, it will be enough to say, "Oh, by the way, I just got out of the hospital after having a lung removed," without giving each other all the bloody detail -- or maybe cough up a little blood, as that's always interesting.

3. We have accumulated a great number of air miles from the credit card we use, and we've been wanting to take a trip or two somewhere in the U.S. to use up some of those miles. The thing about this is that we would rather be beaten with a shillelagh than fly in a plane operated by an American business. So, we drive if at all possible. Now we're trying to find time to go to Seattle or some other far distant point we've never been. The plan keeps getting put off because other life intrudes.